The great LewRockwell.com writer Charles Burris has some keen insights into the development of modern pro-government “conservatism.” As government grew throughout the twentieth century, a strain of “conservatism” arose which seemed to support this vast new growth of government programs while quibbling at the margins with tax rates, or advocating more imprisonment or ever-more-powerful surveillance. …
Category Archive: Free speech under siege
Apr 02
News media sources in India are ordered to carry the official government version of COVID-19 developments
India’s highest court has ordered news media and social media sites to carry the government’s “official version” of developments regarding the alleged Coronavirus crisis, to curb independent reporting.
Feb 01
Chinese government enlists Facebook to censor news about coronavirus
The Chinese government is losing control of the narrative regarding the coronavirus. Nearly 12,000 people have been infected by the virus in China, and tourism to China has dropped considerably. Numerous stores and offices in China have closed and some airports have implemented quarantines of travelers. Now the Chinese government (and, it seems, other governments) …
Nov 28
Singapore is new ground zero for freedom of press
Singapore, one of the freest places on earth by some accounts, is struggling to throw off press repressions. The Singapore government recently imposed new laws purportedly aimed at stamping out fake news. “A blogger said on Thursday he would not comply with a Singapore government order to correct a Facebook post in the first test …
Nov 17
Twitter’s highest censor over Europe and Africa is revealed as a British government propaganda official!
Everyone knows that major social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Google and Youtube have recently been on censorship binges–blocking, deplatforming, removing and censoring antigovernment criticism or content. Most free press advocates have been lulled into inaction regarding this because the online media platforms are private firms rather than government agencies. But now it has …
Oct 20
Australian government is at war with free press
Australian papers are uniting to produce stories this week with most of their content redacted. The plan is in response to recent raids and assaults on the press by the Australian government. The government has imposed increasing “national security” restrictions on the press in recent years. Last year a court order prevented media from reporting …
Sep 09
Be Afraid: Government News Agencies are Teaming Up Worldwide to “Fight Misinformation”
The Agence France-Presse (AFP), the world’s oldest news agency (which is affiliated with the French government) is teaming up with the British Broadcasting Company (BBC) (a branch of the British government) and other news organizations in a global initiative to combat nongovernment and anti-government news (which they call “misinformation.”) See here. These government news bureaus …
Aug 17
Another teen arrested for “threatening” federal agents–over social media posts
Every government that ever existed sought to equate criticism of government with ‘terrorism,’ ‘treason’ or threats. Prior to the American Revolution, Brits could be criminally prosecuted for merely imagining the death of the king. (Numerous figures in English history were executed for merely imagining the death of the king in poetry or prose.) In the …
Aug 06
Governments worldwide erupt in orgies of violence against their own subjects
Indonesia: Undercover religious/government cops are roving the landscape searching for minor violations of Sharia-like moral codes. Hundreds of Indonesians have been arrested, imprisoned and publicly flogged and whipped for appearing affectionate to the opposite sex. Both men and women have been whipped for smooching or holding hands. In case anyone wonders what happens to those …
Jul 14
Socialist death squads have murdered over 5,000 dissidents in Venezuela
From The Independent: Venezuelan special forces have carried out thousands of extrajudicial killings in the past 18 months and then manipulated crime scenes to make it look as if the victims had been resisting arrest, the United Nations said on Thursday in a report detailing wide-ranging government abuses targeting political opponents. Special Action Forces described …